Alpha Centauri Rhiannon

Black

Trying to escape from her babies!!

01/05/06 - 10/06

I had to have my beautiful shiny black girl put to sleep, as a malignant tumour she had removed the previous month came back in the form of 5 scarily fast-growing tumours, one of which she decided to chew to bits, so there was nothing else I could do for her. She was only 14 months old, and I was devastated....

Rhi was a stunning girl, lovely gentle personality, and arrived along with her sister Anwen, brother Seamus, and foster brother Harry in October 05. As well as being beautiful and friendly she was also a fantastic rat mum to her litter of 15 that she had in March 06. She even tried to feed the stillborn kitten that she had in the litter, most rat mums would have disposed of the dead baby themselves, but Rhi left it there and kept moving it to the top of the pile so it could feed, bless her.

Her good looks also served her well in the varieties class at shows, she won best black many times, and had a lot of admirers

Sadly this blasted lump appeared in the middle of September 06, so I immediately booked her in to have it removed, as it grew scarily fast. She coped really well with surgery, and didn't pick her stitches out at all. Unfortunately the lump turned out to be a malignant one, so I put her on the antilump mix and hoped that the lump wouldn't recur.

Sadly, 5 more lumps appeared, including a couple on her lymph nodes, which grew to grape size within days  . I finally decided I'd have to say goodbye to her when after a couple of days of not really being herself, she decided to chew one of the lumps out that was close to her skin, making a horrific mess...it must have been hurting her  Short of putting her in a collar for the rest of her life, there wasn't a lot I could do, so my vet and I decided that the kindest thing would be to let her go  This was the hardest PTS decision I've ever had to make, as she was so young and so healthy otherwise.....cancer is just such an unfair disease.

Sleep well Rhiannon, I'll miss you so much...at least you left me with your gorgeous son and daughter as a reminder of how beautiful you were  

In tribute, the lyrics from the Fleetwood Mac song she was named after:

Rhiannon

Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn't you love to love her
Takes to the sky like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover?

All your life you've never seen
Woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you Heaven?
Will you ever win?

She is like a cat in the dark
And then she is the darkness
She rules her life like a fine skylark
And when the sky is starless

All your life you've never seen
Woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you Heaven?
Will you ever win?
Will you ever win?

Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon

She rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn't you love to love her
She rules her life like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover?

All your life you've never seen
Woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you Heaven?
Will you ever win?
Will you ever win?

Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon

Taken by, taken by the sky
Taken by, taken by the sky
Taken by, taken by the sky

Dreams unwind
Love's a state of mind
Dreams unwind
Love's a state of mind...